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Will I be able to pay back my student loans?

When you borrow money for college you might not be thinking about your ability to repay the loan once you graduate. Outstanding student loan balances may infringe upon your ability to qualify for a home, auto and other personal loans. Use this tool to help gauge the feasibility of your student loan repayment with your anticipated future income.

Assumptions

Anticipated annual income upon graduation ($)

Original loan amount ($)

Annual interest rate (0% to 40%)

Initial payment period (months) (1 to 480)

The Real Cost of College

Junior has just arrived home from the maternity ward, and like the model parent you are, you want to start investing to send the little nipper to Harvard. What should your asset allocation strategy be for this investment goal?

Unless you are wealthy, you will need to generate lots of capital to fund an Ivy League education. Fortunately, you have a fairly generous investment time horizon of 18 years or so. You might well consider placing most of your investment capital in stocks to generate as much growth as possible--keeping in mind that you might have to endure the occasional dip or even a couple of bear market years. If you are concerned about exposing all of your capital to the market, you might want to place a small portion of it -- say 20 percent -- in safer investments such as bonds.

10 Ways to Avoid or Minimize Student Loan Debt

If you really want to reduce your debt, the first thing you will need to do is create a spending plan, then stick to it. Your spending plan, or budget, needs to focus on paying down your debt and not adding to it. This may mean cutting up the credit cards and avoiding sales and bargains that are too good to be true. Set your primary financial goal to be out of debt in six months, a year, two, or whatever it takes. Write it down. You need to stick to this plan until you have achieved your goal.

Identify and prioritize essential expenses. Limit your spending to the bare essentials: food, shelter, utilities, etc. It may be difficult to define what is essential and what is "luxury," but if you are to get out of debt, you must be tough. Make a list of essential expenses and how much they cost on average each month.

Initial payment period (months)The number of months that the student loan is amortized. Ten years equals 120 months.

This information may help you analyze your financial needs. It is based on information and assumptions provided by you regarding your goals, expectations and financial situation. The calculations do not infer that the company assumes any fiduciary duties. The calculations provided should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice. In addition, such information should not be relied upon as the only source of information. This information is supplied from sources we believe to be reliable but we cannot guarantee its accuracy. Hypothetical illustrations may provide historical or current performance information. Past performance does not guarantee nor indicate future results.